Johannesburg –
Miner DRDGold says it will report a loss for the six months to December.
This is as the
final clean-up and closure of specific Crown sites continued to weigh on costs
causing both accelerated depreciation and retrenchment costs of about R18
million each.
The company says
earnings per share will drop by between 76 and 96 percent to between 0.17c and
1.03c.
Its headline
loss per share will come in at between 2.66c and 2.14c compared to earnings of
2.6c in the six months to December 2015.
DRDGold also
noted volume throughput amounted to 6 million tonnes compared to 6.6 million
tonnes, a 10 percent decrease.
In a statement
on Monday, it said gold production amounted to 1 066kg compared to 1 034kg, a 3
percent increase and operating costs increased by 9 percent to R 82 per tonne.
Read also: DRDGold scores record profits in line with sector
After paying a
final dividend of R52 million for the year to June, it ended the second quarter
of the 2017 financial year with R290 million in cash and cash equivalents,
compared with R335 million at the end of the first quarter of. The cash
position was also influenced by an increase in working capital of R 70.5
million for the first half of the year.
Gold production
for the year to June is expected to be between 136 000 and 140 000 ounces
at cash operating costs of between R468 000 per kilogram and R482 000 per
kilogram.
The company
expects to report on February 15.
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